July 15, 2004
Dear Everyone:
Last Saturday, “Jeannie” and I got our hair cut and, between the two of us, we saved over $1400. Well, no, not on haircuts. On televisions.
For several months now, we have both been thinking about getting a new TV for our respective living rooms. In “Jeannie’s” case, her TV was 14 years old, was really too small and was too old to have the cable ports that would let her connect the VCR/DVD player that she had acquired some while back, but has been unable to use. In my case, the TV, although much younger than “Jeannie’s”, was beginning to lose the ability to receive some of the higher channel numbers. It was getting so that, if I wanted to watch the History Channel, I had to turn on the VCR and tune that to the channel. This was unacceptable.
So we’ve both been kind of shopping around and had pretty much decided that we wanted the new LCD models, which provide a nice, big picture without occupying a major part of the living room. In addition, our hairdresser is one of those people who does a lot of research and she had determined that LCD was much better than plasma. She was also the person who recommended a small video store in “Livermore”, where she had bought her own TV.
Consequently, once our hair looked terrific, we drove down to my place. Leaving “Jeannie’s” car in my carport, we drove to “Livermore” and had lunch at one of my favorite Mexican restaurants. Then we went to the video store. The salesman, with an East European accent, extolled the virtues of several makes and models. Certain ones were on special because they were the floor models of lines that had been discontinued. But there was one model where we could get a new one, still in the box, for $1999.99.
We said we would think about it and left to go look
at rocks. “Jeannie” wants to
have her patio covered with
flagstones and
there is a place in
San Ramon
that is known all over the
Bay Area
for it’s quality stones.
However, it turns out that they close at
There we found the exact same make of LCD TV, the same size, possibly a newer model, as the one we’d looked at before. Price: $2699.99. To me it looked identical, but it could have been the model replacing the one that was being discontinued. Which means it might have had a few more bells and whistles. For $700 more.
Back to the little video store. (Really, just down the road and across the street.) When the salesman saws us again, the first thing he said was, “No sales tax!” Since we had decided that we would both get the same make/model, “Jeannie” pressed for a “volume discount”. The manager agreed to cut an additional $25 each, but that was as low as he would go.
So we each got a new TV for $700 less than at the other place. Times 2, that’s $1400. And, I swear, both boxes fit together in the back seat of my car. That’s the advantage of LCD.
Back to my place where we lugged one box into the living room. Then up to “Jeannie’s” place to deliver the second one.
On Sunday, I drove up to “Jeannie’s” place and we attempted to get the TV out of the box. There are all kinds of instructive pictures indicating the you cannot turn it upside down, or lay it on its side, or do any of the things you usually do to try and get a relatively heavy object out of its tightly-fitted cardboard box. And we had been cautioned to keep the box in case anything happened in the first 30 days and we had to take one of them back to the store.
Luckily, the strapping young son of “Jeannie’s” neighbor came by and easily lifted the TV while we held the box down. He was quite impressed with the new set. There are about 15 different ways to connect various things to it. We hooked up “Jeannie’s” VCR/DVD in seconds and it was good to go.
On to my place. First we had to get the big, old TV off the stand and onto the floor. Then we slid it under the stairs for the time being. Not having a strapping neighborhood youth available, we cut part of the bottom flaps so that we could stand on them while we pulled the TV up from the box. This actually worked pretty well.
That being accomplished, we went to the movies.
King Arthur,
from the same
screenwriter who did
Gladiator,
is set about 100 years later, near the “official”
fall
of the
Clive Owen has risen from a bit part in
Arthur and his men have one last mission to try and get through the Celts (with their skins intact) and rescue an important Roman family who happen to be living right in the path of the oncoming Saxons. The knights rescue some people, including a young woman who turns out to be Guinevere, played as a warrior princess this time.
There are lots of battles with shaky camera shots and quick screen cuts to try and depict the chaos of warfare. But there is one scene in which the adversaries duke it out on a frozen lake. Well, almost frozen. That one is kind of neat. The rest of it is mostly battles, battles, battles. The knights wear Roman-style armor and Guinevere shows up in a leather bikini. Go figure.
But the real reason for watching the movie is, as “Jeannie” kept leaning over and whispering, “Which one do you think is hotter? This one (Owens), or this one (Gruffudd)? My answer: Both. Yum.
And I love my new TV.
Love, as always,
Pete
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